The Day After

What a night. Congratulations to all of the winners. I’m looking forward to working with you. It takes a lot to stand for election, so great respect to those who ran whether they won or not.

Congratulations to President Barack Obama on his re-election. He won Buncombe County by over 25,000 votes though we weren’t enough to hold North Carolina for him. That huge Buncombe County Democratic advantage didn’t show up in our local races due, in no small part, to recent redistricting that boxed Buncombe’s Democrats.

Both Patsy Keever and Hayden Rogers fell in heavily pro-Republican districts. Conservative Republicans Mark Meadows and Patrick McHenry will be representing Buncombe County in the US Congress. Only four of North Carolina’s thirteen Congressional representatives will be Democrats. The House of Representatives will remain in Republican hands, and the US Senate will remain in the hands of Democrats.

The Council of State races were mixed, though the gubernatorial race was a resounding victory for former Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory. Republican Dan Forest narrowly won the race for Lieutenant Governor. Democrat Beth Wood maintained her job as NC Auditor. Republican Steve Troxler won Agriculture Commissioner, and Democrat Wayne Goodwin stays on as Insurance Commissioner. Elevator Queen Cherie Berry won Labor Commissioner by nearly 300,000 votes. Democrat Elaine Marshall won Secretary of State. Democrat June Atkinson won by a broad margin to remain Superintendent of Public Instruction. Lastly, Democrat Janet Cowell will stay on for another term as Treasurer. Statewide results are here.

I’m going to let someone else offer the judiciary results. They are mixed as well, but the NC Supreme Court race went to Republican Paul Newby.

Both Tim Moffitt and Nathan Ramsey handily defeated their challengers in NC House races, showing off deep warchests and newly drawn districts. Those races were colored by the efforts of conservative partisans to divide the people of Buncombe County, and the tactics were successful. Democratic Senator Martin Nesbitt coasted to victory over perennial candidate R.L. Clark. Susan Fisher, running unopposed, will have another term as well.

Republicans Joe Belcher and David King won seats on Buncombe County’s Board of Commissioners, and Republicans are likely to have won a majority. There will be a recount in District 2. With a very narrow margin of victory and ongoing confusion surrounding Warren Wilson College residents’ votes, getting that count correct could take some time. Chairman David Gantt, Commissioner Holly Jones, and former Asheville City Council member Brownie Newman had wide margins of victory. Democrat Drew Reisinger boasted a strong victory for the office of Register of Deeds. Veteran Jim Coman lost his race for Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor to Jeff Foster by fewer than 700 votes. See Buncombe County results here.

The water referendum sent a resounding message that Asheville voters would prefer the system be left alone. The water issue has several more chapters in it, and we’ll tackle that another day.

Them’s the facts. There’s a lot of dissection to do, and the results are going to have far-reaching consequences. I’m looking forward to working with all of our elected officials to move towards shared prosperity for all of the citizens of Buncombe County. After all, we’re all in this together.

Gay marriage won in four states. Two states made marijuana legal. Democrats didn’t just keep the Senate in a tough year, they gained seats. And of course, Barack Obama won reelection. Nov. 6, 2012, forecast as the squeaker conclusion to a toss-up race, was not a landslide, but it was a ringing victory for liberals across the board.

“I think we’ll move very quickly with this and by the end of this week and into the beginning of next week meet with governor-elect McCrory and plan for how we are going to go after the three main areas: tax reform, regulatory reform and education reform,” said House Speaker Thom Tillis.

Progressive Democrats who share many of the values of the Green Party were worried that presidential candidate Jill Stein would siphon votes from Obama if people voted purely on the issues. Now that their fear can be put to rest, I wonder how many really are Greens at heart. Here’s an easy way to find out.

I’m reposting this here in case anyone missed the hysterics from Tom the other day: “Every computer voting company is owned by friends of the GOP. They can steal elections in states that are closer than about 5% and B.S. everybody that it was an “upset.” This is what they did in 2004 in Ohio. Remember, Bush got fewer votes than Gore in 2000 and was actually LOSING support by 2004, over the Iraq war and the tax cuts blowing up the deficit. Dem voters came out in droves looking for revenge. They waited hours in the Ohio rain.

So how did he get re-elected? It was mathematically impossible! He stole Ohio. And it was taboo to say so. Still is.

Kerry may have earned 360 Electoral College votes and similar activities may have cost the Dems 10 to 20 Congressional seats in the 2006 midterms.

Not that these are the only two times it’s happened.

So I want to say this: I don’t want to believe Mitt Romney will steal this election.

But I do believe it. 2008 was just too much of a blowout to steal. Nobody would have fallen for it. This time, for some insane reason, it’s actually close. Kerry was polling a tiny bit better at this point in 2004 than Obama is now, if I’m not mistaken.

The Republicans effectively own all the computerized voting machines, which the Obama administration spent three years and nine months DOING NOTHING ABOUT.

President Obama. Has a better sound than the other name for the next 4 years. Let’s keep Obama moving forward now, this whole next 4 years.

I am struck once again with the historicity of his winning the election. In ’08, it was amazing enough that an African American should win such a high office. ’12 once again is remarkable:

Economy is better, but, still not great.
Unemployment is still unacceptably low.
Bad decisions in the past 4 years, along with the good and the blocked efforts (btw, for everyone saying the D’s controlled the Senate for long enough, Congress is not the same branch of govt., so, it really doesn’t mean much to brush off the blocks w/that remark).
And, for all the efforts to confuse, suppress and all other hi jinx, all the prejudice and discontent among the extreme right(and, I KNOW all conservatives are not prejudiced, but, I know plenty who are) was not able to keep an African American from once again being elected. I don’t think anyone will be able to dismiss this man as the “token black man.”

All over Europe Green MPs participate in government, caucus with like-minded left & progressive Mps. New Zealand, Australia and Brazil have active, vital and influential Green Party participation in government. Are they sheeple too?
Too many progressive Democrats don’t realize there is an alternative to the big-money, corporate two-party system in the USA.

Yet, most progressive democrats I know share the 10 key values of the Green Party.

And, as Greens, we don’t have to overlook or put up with the near total lack of discussion about climate change—not mentioned once in the recent debates, or stealth drone attacks on civilians, or the persecution of government whistle blowers, or the National Defense Authorization Act with it’s threat to US citizens’ liberty.

Being Green means integrity. We don’t have to hypocritically overlook the nasty bits when we vote.

Allowing the Green Party ballot access in 2016 is our goal. Come sign a petition at Firestorm Cafe.

I don’t object to signing for someone’s right to participate in governmental process. If it’s legit, what is there to fear? We all complain about the limitations of the “sold out” parties on both sides…we want change… How can anything change, if we don’t try?

I won’t commit beyond that, without more “legitimate” info. I also won’t help dilute votes without seeing a greater possible outcome.

William Wilberforce(also from England, and, worked on changing the hearts/minds of his countrymen-and, MPs). For those who don’t already know he is one of my heroes, here’s why:

He went up against the economic stranglehold slavery had on England.
He started out with a rag-tag group of “radical” thinkers(actually, some ministers, women, lawyers,etc.) who were small in number at first.
He subjected himself to the verbal sparring, more intense than Americans consider ‘civil,’ arguing in Parliament.
He continued, despite not seeing the final outcome-an end to the salve trade in all of England-until 3 days before he died….

All of that, while he also brought about reforms in education, prison and restricting capital punishment, worker’s rights, poverty, founded the world’s first animal welfare org., the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and was a philanthropist, giving to a wide variety of causes. Not perfect, by any means, but, good enough for my criteria of “hero.” And, all of this from a conservative convert to Christianity(good friends with, and supported by John Newton, his old pastor who became convicted by the evils of slavery and was haunted by the part he played, and provided Wilberforce written testimony for his arguments.

All that said, I will support folks who want to bring positive change, but, I will not give away my devotion to something I cannot verify beyond ideologue or hype by a “true believer.”

So, will that petition holder have info beyond the links to google searches to devotee pages?

(Wow! I guess I have kind of too high standards for most people’s tastes, huh?)

We make demonstrable progress towards achieving our Long-term Goals
Green Values and ideas are widely adopted and practiced
Greens are elected and there is a strong Green influence on local, national and international decision-making
We raise the level of respect for political discourse and elected representatives and improve the quality of political debate
People join and support the Greens
We nurture a grassroots leadership which takes up the Green challenge with passion, energy and creativity

I was wrong. That is a good thing. Don’t seek hilarity in it, however. The voting process in many US states is opaque and rife with opportunities for tampering. As Jim Hightower put it, Why, of all the things the Romney family could have invested in, why electronic voting machines? We shouldn’t need to trust the process: it should be transparent and understandable to any lay person, and in America it is not. It should be so clear that only a nut would distrust it. It isn’t.

Believe me, you do not want what I have been smoking. It’s called depression.